diff --git a/internal/configs/configs.go b/internal/configs/configs.go
index f1bec83..6f4772d 100644
--- a/internal/configs/configs.go
+++ b/internal/configs/configs.go
@@ -4,7 +4,9 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"regexp"
+	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/klauspost/cpuid/v2"
 
@@ -300,12 +302,32 @@ func CopyToSystem(isRoot bool, conffile, sysfile string) {
 	// ExecAndLogSudo will write to the logger, so just print here
 	fmt.Printf("Copying: %s to %s\n", conffile, sysfile)
 
+	if isRoot {
+		logger.Printf("Copying %s to %s\n", conffile, sysfile)
+		fmt.Printf("Copying %s to %s\n", conffile, sysfile)
+		fDat, err := os.ReadFile(conffile)
+		common.ErrorCheck(err, fmt.Sprintf("Failed to read %s", conffile))
+		err = os.WriteFile(sysfile, fDat, 0644)
+		common.ErrorCheck(err, fmt.Sprintf("Failed to write %s", sysfile))
+		return
+	}
+
+	if !filepath.IsAbs(conffile) {
+		conffile, _ = filepath.Abs(conffile)
+	}
+
+	conffile = strings.ReplaceAll(conffile, " ", "\\ ")
+	cmd := fmt.Sprintf("cp -v %s %s", conffile, sysfile)
+
+	err := command.ExecAndLogSudo(isRoot, false, cmd)
+
+	errMsg := ""
+	if err != nil {
+		errMsg = err.Error()
+	}
+
 	// [command.ExecAndLogSudo] will log the command's output
-	common.ErrorCheck(command.ExecAndLogSudo(isRoot, false,
-		fmt.Sprintf("cp -v \"%s\" %s", conffile, sysfile),
-	), // if error, log and exit
-		fmt.Sprintf("Failed to copy %s to %s", conffile, sysfile),
-	)
+	common.ErrorCheck(err, fmt.Sprintf("Failed to copy %s to %s:\n%s", conffile, sysfile, errMsg))
 
 	// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 	// note that if we failed the error check, the following will not appear in the log!
diff --git a/internal/configs/configs_test.go b/internal/configs/configs_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8cc6290
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/configs/configs_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+package configs
+
+import (
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestCopyToSystem(t *testing.T) {
+	if err := os.Mkdir("testdir", 0755); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	tFilePath := filepath.Join("testdir", "testfile")
+	if err := os.WriteFile(tFilePath, []byte("test"), 0644); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	t.Cleanup(func() {
+		if err := os.RemoveAll("testdir"); err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
+	})
+	isRoot := os.Getuid() == 0
+	switch isRoot {
+	case true:
+		t.Run("TestCopyToSystem_AsRoot", func(t *testing.T) {
+			CopyToSystem(true, tFilePath, "/etc/testfile")
+		})
+	default:
+		t.Run("TestCopyToSystem_AsUser", func(t *testing.T) {
+			CopyToSystem(false, tFilePath, "/etc/testfile")
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/command/command.go b/pkg/command/command.go
index 4f1b553..65702d5 100644
--- a/pkg/command/command.go
+++ b/pkg/command/command.go
@@ -133,8 +133,14 @@ func ExecAndLogSudo(isRoot, noisy bool, cmd string) error {
 		fmt.Printf("Executing (elevated): %s\nSee debug.log for detailed output\n", cmd)
 	}
 
+	wd, err := os.Getwd()
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	cs := strings.Fields(cmd)
 	r := exec.Command(cs[0], cs[1:]...)
+	r.Dir = wd
 
 	cmdCombinedOut, err := r.CombinedOutput()
 	outStr := string(cmdCombinedOut)
@@ -148,5 +154,9 @@ func ExecAndLogSudo(isRoot, noisy bool, cmd string) error {
 		fmt.Printf("%s\n", outStr)
 	}
 
+	if err != nil {
+		err = fmt.Errorf("failed to execute %s: %w\n%s", cmd, err, outStr)
+	}
+
 	return err
 }